Let the party begin: Joy for the All Blacks at the final whistle
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It was not as convincing as many fans expected but the All Blacks held on to claim an 8-7 success over France and with it their second World Cup crown.
Les Bleus were a completely different side to the one that had fallen to the 2011 hosts and also Tonga during the Pool stages. And they pushed the Kiwis right up until the death in a highly-charged 80 minutes at Eden Park on Sunday.
But New Zealand managed to beat their rivals who had caused them such bother in the past, ultimately banishing their 1999 and 2007 ghosts.
The score has a certain eeriness to it too - '87?
Auckland was alive with All Blacks supporters all afternoon as the whole population hoped for an end to their 20 years of Webb Ellis hurt. Tickets were not sold out however as only hours before kick-off, sales were still going: cheapest for $401 ranging up to £1280 for the most expensive.
France meanwhile had banked on proving that their 6/1 bookmaker price for a game of such magnitude was way off the mark, and they duly racked up the phases inside opposition territory. This followed les Bleus not backing down from the Kapa O Pango - in fact they walked into it.
A marker was well-and-truly thrown down by France.
It was always going to be key for France to deprive New Zealand of the same start they enjoyed against the Wallabies and that was exactly what they managed, keeping the All Blacks away from the red zone despite an early penalty miss from fan favourite Piri Weepu.
Their starvation attempt did not last as back came the All Blacks following a solid touch-finder from scrum-half Weepu. And from that ensuing line-out, superb off-the-top ball back inside to Tony Woodcock saw the prop ghost through unopposed. Cue a big sigh of relief.
Suddenly the momentum had swung while Morgan Parra continued to struggle, which eventually led to Francois Trinh-Duc replacing him. France were not going to be alone in losing their fly-half though as six minutes before the break, Aaron Cruden exited injured.
Breakdown supremacy was also always going to be vital and as is their wont in 2011, the All Blacks soon dominated matters, which should have resulted in another three from Weepu. However, the former Hurricane looked like he was kicking in one with another missed shot.
Despite those eight points from the tee having gone begging, there was little worrying New Zealand heading past the half-hour mark but as this nation had become accustomed to, France aren't to be taken lightly, particularly with only a five-point lead taken into the sheds.
Marc Lievremont was clearly encouraged from what he had seen from his charges and sent the French back out from the break with the greater intent, but this time it was they who counted the cost of a penalty miss. Dimitri Yachvili sending the ball just wide of the uprights.
It looked like New Zealand had made the visitors pay for that failed attempt when first-half replacement Stephen Donald slotted from bang in front, but as the French have a habit of doing in this tournament, they soon came back to haunt their hosts. Thierry Dusautoir it was who crossed as the All Blacks fell asleep in defence following Donald's effort. The visiting captain burrowed his way over close to the post to make it an easy conversion for Trinh-Duc.
Suddenly the nerves of yesteryear were weighing on the hearts and shoulders of the 61,000 supporters at Eden Park as play nervously pitched itself on the halfway line coming up to the hour mark. That aforementioned 6/1 bookies price tag had become a great amount shorter.
France had the chance to snatch an unlikely World Cup crown on 63 minutes when Trinh-Duc lined up a 45-metre penalty but it proved unsuccessful as New Zealand weathered both the French storm and the pressure they'd put on themselves after almost a quarter-of-a-century without the Webb Ellis trophy.
The game was on a knife edge right until the final moments but the hosts just managed to hold on and end 24 years of waiting for their second RWC, McCaw left holding the prize.
Man of the match: Yet another towering performance from Imanol Harinordoquy has gone into the locker of the Biarritz stalwart. The number eight proved once again he is a must in this French line-up as he foiled several home line-outs, ran well in open play and also had a good night in close quarters. However, along with Thierry Dusautoir, Richie McCaw put in captain's performance on Sunday and was colossal at the breakdown. Big game effort.
Moment of the match: It had looked like France were going to upset New Zealand in 1999, 2007 and now 2011 when Francois Trinh-Duc lined up a long-range penalty attempt with only a quarter of the game remaining. The replacement fly-half did not get hold of his attempt though and that proved the difference between the two when it came down to it.
Villain of the match: A game played in good spirits. Nothing to report.
The scorers:
For France:
Try: Dusautoir
Con: Trinh-Duc
For New Zealand:
Tries: Woodcock
Pen: Donald
France: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 Morgan Parra, 9 Dimitri Yachvili, 8 Imanol Harinordoquy, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascal Papé, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.
Replacements: 16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Fabien Barcella, 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 20 Jean-Marc Doussain, 21 François Trinh-Duc, 22 Damien Traille.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Brad Thorn, 4 Samuel Whitelock, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.
Referee: Craig Joubert
By Adam Kyriacou at Eden Park
Comments
Rosbif says...
@ bigb69. Are you a currrent or ex player? when refs don't whistle for offences, stuff happens. i'm not saying it's right. i'm just saying it happens. rougerie is one of the cleanest players around. for starters, he's a back. what does he know about the dark arts?
this was the wc final. you don't hang around wondering "what if". you're 1 point down. the refs giving you nothing. he's given you nothing all game. there comes a point where you need to enforce your "will" on the game.
if mccaw wasn't happy with it, he could simply let go of the ball. simple. let go, and the pain stops. the fact mccaw is able to withstand this kind of stuff is what makes him an INCREDIBLE PLAYER. His force of will. But it's also why you need a ref who can make decisions. Otherwise, how can you ever get the ball off mccaw.
Think about it the other way. If the score was 8-7 to Fra, with 10 minutes to go, are you telling me mccaw would just be standing by watching french players not let go of the ball? No, of course not. he would be talking to the ref. A lot. But what if he'd been talking to the ref all game, and the ref hadn't given him anything? Because he was overwhelmed by not wanting to blow his whistle.
Think about it. 10 mins to go. WC final. 60k people at eden park. 24 years since 1987. Some smelly froggies about to walk away with the cup. And he's on the floor not letting go. You telling me you would not EXPECT mccaw to do something about it? Enforce his will. Then what if the Froggy is really hard. Doesn't mind having his hands stamped on. Doesn't mind having his nuts crushed. Still won't let go. The bl**dy frog. What do you do if you're mccaw?
Decisions decisions.
Pls don't be too judgemental. People in glass houses and all that.....
Posted 12:44 25th October 2011
Rosbif says...
@justice_4_all. thks. appreciate the offer. I trust you realise, now that the dust has settled, that my min-by-min analysis is deliberately one-sided. For emphasis. I guess, 2 days later, the focus for most is inevitably on the 1 or 2 key decisions that lead to points. Or a small band of psychos are fixated on crazy stuff like Donald's kick not going over. There's one born every minute...
Maybe you would be prepareed to ask re a few seemingly inconsistent applications of the law. (I'm not going to talk scrum collapses, high tackles, or not-straights at lineout !!)
1. Calling "Time Off" for injured player:
Parra is knocked out. Play is allowed to continue, even though there is a line-out restart, i.e. a good opprtunity to call time off. I understand refs were asked to do this. It gives NZ a small advantage, attacking aginst 14 men for 10 phases. That's OK. Except when Cruden is injured, and Brad Thorn knocks-on 10 seconds later, instead of going to the scrum, Joubert calls time off. Why? Why not let Fra attack a 14-man NZ for several phases?
2. Arriving player has rights (if he keeps his feet)
I know this is difficult. Weepu gets 50/50 decision on 13.17 mins vs Dusaut which allows the touch kick that leads to Woodcock's try. OK. But then why does Dusaut not get same verdict vs Nonu on 38.11 mins (when Nonu gets isolated trying to run out from his 22). BIG CALL!
3. Straying offside on D when scrum half hesitates at the base.
Again. Difficult. Weepu's first kick at goal is result of Parra being judged offside in this way on 4.45mins. Fair call. But then Joubert does not apply this law in other examples vs ABs, eg 31.32 Yach hesitates at base. Franks and Thorn step offside. It's marginal, yes. But then so was earlier offence on 4.45
These are little things. But together they add up. And affect the neutrals view of the game.
Posted 11:12 25th October 2011
pahel81 says...
Watch this ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XBqetaCfgo
WC is over ... but lot of things needs to be go in the correct way ..If this trend continues , I am afraid Rugby will go nowhere ...And IRB is useless ...what a pity..
Posted 10:34 25th October 2011
Ramage says...
After reading many of the posts on here I believe the word sport as defined by the Oxford dictionary has a completely different meaning to many who write to this site. I am disgusted with some of the smears written by many on here and the degrading way they have written about top players and referees. Of course these writers are extremely qualified as they have played rugby at this top elite International level and have also have a photographic memory of the Laws of the game to besmirch almost every referee who took the field. What a pack of poor sportsmen who have never reached any top level but sit comfortably at home drinking copious amounts of alcohol and are so knowledgeable about the game that they actually believe what they write. When you read what some people allegedly see in the game then if it happened as they report it then we would have seen hardly any game at all as the referee would have been blowing his whistle penalising teams and sending players off. What a joke some of these people are and so bitter and twisted. A nation of just over 4million people can produce such a magnificent winning team no matter how many top players they lose. They have such power in rugby to make referees look the other way and only referee to help NZ. Their power extends to take in the IRB who are trembling and so frightened of this powerful country that has caused them to be so corrupt they have put in a dastardly plan even before the tournament started to see that NZ won the RWC. Gosh this tiny country of 4million people has such power. I never knew I came from such a powerful country that forces all these people to bow to their wishes. Gosh perhaps we should check and see that Tonga, Japan, France (twice), Canada, Argentina and Australia threw their games against this terrible ogre of a country. My comment is get a life for NZ are RWC champions 2011.
Posted 10:18 25th October 2011
dylster says...
@ Stellenbosched & APV
Finally some positive comments worth reading. The bitterness on this article is unbelievable - really ridiculous nasty stuff.
Nice to hear your mates had a goodtime, seems all we hear about are the people on here saying NZ didnt deserve it, and then in the media stories about peoples campervans getting broken into (fortunately not too many).
I was lucky enough to go to a game (ABs v Canada) and the atmosphere was amazing, not as good as Twickers but still awesome!
Well done France, hold your heads up!
Bring on the Trinations now, lets get that Cup back too!!
Good luck to all! (Except the losers - bokvandum, lol_i_zer & Carpelone)
Posted 10:04 25th October 2011
Ramage says...
After reading many of the comments on this site it brings home tome that the word sport as defined in the Oxford dictionary has a completely different meaning to many who write on here. Some of the posts on here are an absolute disgrace and
Posted 09:51 25th October 2011
coronach says...
Trinuts - you may remember pre-RWC the survey in NZ that had 37% looking forward to RWC, 35% were not, the rest had no feelings either way. I believe there would be little support for them to try to host another one; this one was arranged with backing of previous Labour government, and the debts inherited by the present National one, who last year ruled out NZ even applying to host another Commonwealth Games on basis the economy is not big enough to pay for it, ever; it is realistic to say NZ will not host another RWC if it remains a 20-team format; simply not big enough to generate the money demanded by IRB and RWC Ltd.
Have family from UK who fly home today and they've loved every minute of their 5 week stay - started and finished by the same teams France v NZ, but a massive expense, as will Japan be in 8 years time.
I'd say Australia and SA will be the sole hosts for SH in future; Argentina ruled out on travel costs.
Posted 08:17 25th October 2011